Rail-joint shoe and clamp.



No. 777,365. PATBNTED DEG. 13, 1904. J. B. ANDERSON.

RAIL JOINT SHE AND CLAMP.

APPLICATION FILED H1B. 15, 1904. N0 MDBL- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A TTOHNE YS J. B. ANDERSON.

RAIL JOINT SHOE AND CLAMP.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 15. 1904.

H() MODEL.

PATENTED DEC. 13, 1904.

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A TTOHNE YS UNITED STATES Patented December 13, 1904.

PATENT OEEICE.

BAEL-JOINT SHOE AND CLAMP..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 777,365, dated December 13, 1904.

Application i'lled February l5, 1904. Serial No. 193,583. "No model.)

yT0 @ZZ wwnt it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES BRUSH ANDER- SON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon, have invented a new and .Improved Rail Joint Shoe and Clamp, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to means for reliably supporting and securing in place on cross-ties of a railroad track-rails at their joints, so as to permit expansion and contraction of the trackrails and prevent the track from spreading apart at any point along the line of road.

The object of the invention is to provide novel details of construction for a rail-joint shoe that adapt it to serve as a clamp for holding two track-rails at their joint secured together in alinement and afford effective means for retaining the shoe and clamped rails at a desired point on the cross-ties of a railroad.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this sij ecilication, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the iigures.

Figure l is a perspective view of the invention applied upon two track-rails at their joint and upon a cross-tic whereon the device is seated. Fig. 2 is a partly-sectional plan view of the improved shoe and clamp, showing the two clamping-sections thereof nearly joined together. Fig. 3 is a substantially similar view to Fig. 2, the plane of section being essentially indicated by the line 3 3 in Fig. 6, the twin sections of the shoe and clamp being shown as completely joined together in their bottom portions. Fig. L is plan view of the improved rail shoe and clamp. Fig. 5 is a reversed plan view of the same, showing the formation of the lower' side of the device; and Fig. 6 is atransverse sectional view of a trackrail and an end view of the improved shoe and clamp secured. thereto.

As the improvement is particularly available as a clamping-support for the meeting ends of two similar track-rails,the device complete is afforded such length as will adapt it to receive and properly embrace the end portions ol two track-rails at their joint, as indicated in Fig. l, these rails being of the usual I form in cross-section, each havinga ball A, web A', and base-iiange Af.

The improved rail-joint clamp consists of two similar sections, each section comprising one side and a half of the bottom Wall therefor. The side portion of each shoe-section is so shaped that it provides an upright wall 10, which in service has contact with the aliued sides of the webs of two track-rails at and near their joint a. Integral with the wall l0, that serves as a {ish-plate, a cap-plate l1 is formed, which projects laterally from the lower edge of the upright wall 10 and may incline slightly downward, so as to have contact with the upper surface of a base-flange A2. Each cap-plate ll is return-bent at forming an acute-angular corner adapted to receive and incase the free side edge of a respective base-flange A when the shoe-sections are mounted upon the track-rails for service.

The bottom wall of each half-section of the improved shoe and clamp extends from a respective corner and said bottom portions are level one with the other ou their upper surfaces. At and near opposite ends the bottom walls of the shoe-sections are formed of a width nearly equal to that of the complete shoe when its sections are joined together, the width of these similar end portions 112 of the two bottom sections being respectively deiined by a straight edgec, that has contact with a like straight edge c on a corresponding narrow bottom portion l2, which at a respective end thereof is a completing portion of the two-part bottoni wall. On each bottoni portion 12 and extending' from the inner termination ci of each straight edge c an acuteangular tongue 12 is formed. The width of each tongue l2 at its base is delincd by a slightly-concave 'corner (l and the inner end ciof a respective straight edge c. Between an inner termination c3 of the straight edge o', which delines the length of a respective narrow'bottom portion 121L and a rounded corner e, that is spaced therefrom a distance about eq ual to the width of each tongue 12" at its base, a V- shaped notch g is formed in the ol'set al'lorded IOO by the junction of a bottom portion 12C, that extends between the narrow bottom portion 12a at one end of a bottom wall for a half-section of a shoe and the wide bottom portion 12 at the opposite end thereof. Between the corners e and d on each bottom half-section a straight edge /t is formed, these straight edges that are parallel with the angular corners defining the width of a respective middle bottom portion 12C. It will be seen that if the two half-sections of the shoe and clamp are caused to interengage longitudinallyT the tongues 12b will enter the notches g and fully occupy them when the straight edges /L have contact with each other, and this contact of the tongues and notches at their edges will draw the two half-sections of the shoe and clamp toward each other as the sections are forced together endwise, so as to'clamp them upon the webs and base-flanges of two trackrais at and near the joint between ends of said rai s.

The side walls 10 are thickened toward their centers by the curvature of their outer sides, as indicated at c', and it will be seen that this increase in thickness greatly strengthens the side walls of the shoe opposite the joint between'two rail ends that are clamped by said side walls. It will furthermore be seen that the material at the corner b, where the capplate 11 on each shoe-section merges into the bottom plate thereon, is thickened by conv exly curving the outer surface of the corner, as at b/ in Fig. 5, this increase in thickness adding materially to the strength of arespective halfsection of the improved shoe.

There is a series of spaced V-shaped stiffening-ribs 13 formed on the bottom wall of the two-part shoe, these ribs extending longitudinally throughout the length thereof and serve to reinforce the tongues 12b, upon which two of said ribs are formed.

In each of the corners b at suitable points two notches m are formed for reception of the bodies of railroad-spikes. In the side walls lO, that are oppositely disposed for embrace of the webs A on track-rails that are to be clamped together in sequence and seated upon one or more cross-ties B, a plurality of transverse perforations n are formed for reception of clamping-bolts 14, that are provided with nuts 15, as indicated in Fig. l. It will be evident that when the bolts, such as 14, are inserted in all the perforations n (four being shown) and the nuts 15 screwed thereon, so as to draw upon the bolts, that are of course provided with heads 14, the two sections of the improved shoe will be forcibly clamped upon the rail-webs, and the base-flanges of the track-rails will at the same time be clamped by engagement of the inner surfaces of the corners b therewith. y

In application assuming that the two-part shoe has been clamped upon two track-rails at their meeting ends and the shoe seated upon a cross-tie B, the act of driving spikes into the cross-tie and in engagement with a respective notch m will embed the ribs 18 into the crosstie and hold the track-rails immovable.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-M 1. A track-rail shoe and clamp, comprising atwo-part shoe having a two-part bottom wall, V-shaped tongue and notched connection between the opposed edges of the bottom-wall sections, said shoe being adapted to clamp upon the webs and base-flanges of two alined track-rails, the top face of the bottom wall of the shoe being' ilat and adapted to meet in fiat engagement with the bottom faces of the meeting rails, V-shaped ribs spaced apart on the under side of the shoe-bottom, said ribs having sharpened lower edges adapted to be driven into the cross-ties when the rails are spiked down, the sides of the shoe and the webs of the meeting rails having registering openings, and bolts and nuts engaging said openings for holding the shoe clamped upon the rails.

2. A track-rail shoe and clamp, comprising atwo-part shoe havinga two-part bottom wall, interlocking connections vfor the two parts of the bottom wall, and sharp V-shaped, longitudinally-extending ribs on the bottom of the shoe, said ribs being adapted to be driven into the cross-ties when the rails are spiked down.

In testimony whereof Iliave signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES BRUSH ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

E. QUACKENBUSH, E. H. QUACKENBUSH. 

